Important Dates

Paper submissions: September 02, 2021

Acceptance notifications: September 22, 2021

Camera ready submissions: October 1, 2021

Registration Deadline: TBA

Workshop Day: November 17 - 18, 2021

Description

Recent advances in sensing, information and communication technologies combined with well-defined guidelines and regulations have paved various ways for accessible designs for people with disabilities. However, although millions of people require one type of special assistance or another, accessibility is often only a secondary consideration in the design process of buildings and cities. United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 10 (reduce inequality within and among countries) and 11 (make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable) plan to make the built environments accessible to all the users irrespective of their physical abilities. So, accessibility should already be considered in the design and planning of urban environments in order to avoid time-consuming and costly modifications.

Technological advances can be integrated into this planning process in several ways. On the one hand, technology-supported processes such as virtual or augmented reality can be used to conduct a comprehensive needs analysis for a wide range of stakeholders. Realistic simulations can be used to take into account various cognitive and mobility impairments, and potential hazards and accessibility limitations can be revealed early in the design process.

The second use of technology in the design of buildings and cities is the development of smart buildings and smart cities. Through the systematic implementation and integration of Internet of Things (IoT) technologies, formerly analog infrastructures become intelligent actors in a networked environment through the collection, aggregation, forwarding and interpretation of sensor data. With the help of this intelligent infrastructure, the various accessibility goals can be implemented in real time and in an automated manner. For example, sensors are already being used to detect defective elevators. This information is aggregated and shared without manual intervention and ultimately used to support routing within stations but also to ensure that people with walking disabilities only disembark at stations where they also have the opportunity to leave the platform. This example alone shows how important it is to think and plan accessibility as a holistic concept with the help of modern technologies.

However, even the accessibility of existing infrastructures can be improved with the help of smart extensions and networked digital actors. Stores, hotels, restaurants and public facilities can be annotated as so-called digital twins in virtual representations of the real world to take accessibility into account already when people plan their activities. Using methods from the fields of computer vision and machine learning such as object or text recognition, signs, objects or situations can be made tangible for people with limited perceptual abilities. Furthermore, with the ability to collect physiological data continuously and non-intrusively, medical emergencies, for example, can be anticipated and the relevant facilities could be found or already be informed.

In this workshop, we plan to bring together researchers and practitioners from the domains of accessibility, urban development, smart cities, and assistive technology. We believe that it is the combination of expertise in the design, construction, and maintenance of critical urban infrastructures on the one hand and the ability to make use of technological advances from the domains of smart cities, Internet of Things, machine learning, and data analytics on the other hand, that generates a great potential for the development of accessible and sustainable cities. Thus, in addition to presentations of technical papers, we also plan to encourage a lively discussion among participants from different domains in the form of panels, demos, and open discussion rounds.